At Heisenberg's command, Diana smiled with quiet confidence.
"Just a moment!"
With a soft reply, she wrenched the Lasso of Truth with all her might. The golden chains bound Steppenwolf tight while accelerating his plummet.
Beside Diana, Arthur bared his teeth in a savage grin.
"Your Grace, that's gotta be one of Apokolips' monsters, right? Watch this!"
The words barely left his mouth before he seized his trident and charged.
As he sprinted, Mera stood firm and swept her right hand through the air.
A torrent of water surged up and swallowed Arthur whole. The current twisted and coiled into a waterspout that stretched from sea to sky, and Arthur rode its height like a missile, rocketing toward the falling Steppenwolf.
The next instant, he burst free of the water. Countless droplets scattered from his armor, his hair, his shoulders—
Everything except the razor-sharp tip of his trident, which remained bone-dry.
He vaulted through the air, trident raised high, and drove it straight down into Steppenwolf's open mouth.
BOOM!!!
A violent shockwave rippled outward. But Arthur's expression soured. The fact that he could produce a shockwave like that meant his weapon hadn't done nearly enough damage!
And sure enough, Steppenwolf merely gagged and retched. Arthur's trident simply wasn't enough to hurt him.
But Diana's was.
She whipped the Lasso out again. This time, as she reeled the chain back, she used its pull to launch herself skyward, sword drawn, and slashed across Steppenwolf's chest.
CLANG!!!
The crisp ring of metal on metal echoed endlessly. Diana frowned, her eyes fixed on the impenetrable armor plating Steppenwolf wore.
My blade can't cut through his armor!
Without hesitation, she drove her sword straight into the same wound in Steppenwolf's mouth that the trident had made!
The blade punched clean through his tongue and palate. The armor around his head had long since been shattered by Fiona, and that was precisely why Diana had aimed for his mouth.
Agony erupted through Steppenwolf's skull. He thrashed wildly in midair, tearing free of Diana's lasso, and swung a brutal fist that sent her hurtling backward!
The moment Diana went flying, the Flash sprang into action.
Barry accelerated to a blur, then leaped. His feet found the trailing end of Diana's Lasso of Truth—the part she hadn't yet retracted—and he sprinted along it like a tightrope, shooting straight into the gap between the retreating Diana and the still-frozen Steppenwolf.
He glanced at Diana beside him, winced, and darted over to Steppenwolf, who was still locked in his punching pose.
With a grunt, Barry grabbed the slowly tilting alien and shoved his head forward—right onto the sword Diana had been forced to yank free.
The next instant, the Flash landed lightly on the ground and gave Diana a cheerful little wave.
Meanwhile, Diana stared in bewilderment at the sudden weight in her hand.
And Steppenwolf—Steppenwolf howled in fresh agony as the blade pierced his mouth for the second time!
How the hell did this sword end up in my mouth AGAIN?!
Didn't I JUST break free?!
This makes absolutely NO SENSE!!!
But the Justice League gave him zero time to process. In a flash of metallic light, Cyborg materialized behind Steppenwolf. His arms snaked under the alien's jaw, wrapping around to the front of his mouth, and clamped onto the hilt of the sword still impaling Steppenwolf's palate—the same sword Diana still gripped.
At the same moment, Diana tightened the Lasso of Truth, binding Steppenwolf and Cyborg together in an inescapable knot.
Arthur came crashing down from above, boots slamming into Steppenwolf's back. The combined weight drove the alien to his knees—right in front of Heisenberg.
As Steppenwolf gritted his teeth and struggled to rise, Diana yanked the Lasso with vicious force.
Mera summoned a crushing torrent of water that battered Steppenwolf's legs from behind.
Arthur hit the ground, swept his trident in a brutal arc, and smashed it behind Steppenwolf's left knee.
Barry circled to the right rear. In his near-frozen perception of time, he planted a solid kick behind Steppenwolf's right knee.
THUD!!!
Bound at the torso, his mouth locked open by a sword, Steppenwolf crashed to his knees.
And the face he knelt before was Heisenberg's—cold, impassive, absolute.
Arthur planted one boot on Steppenwolf's shin, straining against the alien's desperate attempts to stand, and called out to Heisenberg.
"Boss, how's this look?"
"Excellent work!"
Heisenberg gave a satisfied nod. His praise lit up Diana's face—still white-knuckling the Lasso—with a thrilled, radiant smile.
Watching the heroes he'd trained take down Steppenwolf in a handful of coordinated moves, Heisenberg felt his sense of accomplishment swelling to a crescendo.
In the films, these same heroes had scraped and clawed at Steppenwolf across two entire battles. Without Superman, they couldn't even scratch him.
But now—sharper, meaner, more ruthless—they'd dropped him in moments.
And it was all because of him.
With that thought, Heisenberg turned to Fiona beside him.
"Well? What do you think?"
"Clean methods. Comprehensive combat style. Outstanding traits. Lacking in raw strength, but worth cultivating."
"Sounds like they made a good impression."
"Elder, even without us at your side, your eye for elite warriors remains unmatched."
Fiona's chin lifted. Her voice rang with absolute conviction.
"But from this moment on, we will show you that Kryptonians are the only truly perfect warriors. These humans each have their strengths, yes—but also their weaknesses. Not a single one of them could stand against me or my kin."
She swept her gaze over the heroes like a general inspecting conscripts.
"Weakness is their original sin. And even their so-called strengths—when wielded by the weak—are nothing more than a slightly less useless form of uselessness."
The moment the words left her lips, Mera inhaled sharply through her teeth.
She stalked forward, trident in hand, until she stood before the impossibly proud Kryptonian. Her voice was ice.
"I don't know who you are. But Atlantean warriors are not 'useless' by anyone's definition. If you're so dissatisfied, then perhaps you'd like to—"
Heisenberg's hand closed around her arm and pulled her aside.
"Enough. My people are... admittedly proud. But she isn't entirely wrong. In terms of pure combat power, you are outmatched."
His measured, even-handed assessment ignited a firestorm of indignation among the heroes. Diana's grip on the Lasso tightened so hard her knuckles went white.
But that was exactly the reaction Heisenberg wanted.
If the heroes and his Kryptonians were set against each other, the heroes would—without even realizing it—slot themselves into the role of subordinates under his command.
Seeing the fury burning in Mera's eyes, Fiona smiled. A thin, dismissive curl of the lips.
It was the exact same smile Heisenberg used to wear.
"Your Grace, why not let them release the Apokoliptian? Let me fight them properly. I'll show them what a Kryptonian warrior truly is."
"That's enough, Fiona."
Clark stepped forward, his jaw tight.
"You're not our enemy. We're all here because of Great-grandfather. You don't need to be so—"
"Shut up, Kal-El!"
Fiona's voice cracked like a whip.
"You—son of a traitor to Krypton, son of the criminal who stole the Codex, Earth's little attack dog—you have no right to lecture me!"
"You—!!!"
In a blur of red, the Flash wrapped both arms around Clark's bicep, anchoring the Kryptonian before his blood could boil over.
Bruce watched the friction between Fiona and the heroes with a deep crease between his brows. He clapped his hands once and stepped forward from the group.
"I think now is hardly the time for arguing. Kryptonians are still hunting Apokoliptian creatures. We need to—"
"No one asked you to speak, weak black creature!"
Fiona didn't even look at him properly.
"The next time I'm in combat and you fire your annoying little weapons at me, I will twist your head off and load it into one of your cannons myself!"
She didn't care who Batman was. Of everyone present, the one she despised most was Clark—the one who defied Zod, who betrayed Krypton.
The second most annoying? This man in black.
If he hadn't invoked the Elder's name, she would have torn him in half by now.
Bruce's face went flat. He shut his mouth.
But what neither he nor Fiona expected was—
"Pfft—!!!"
Arthur, who had been seething with rage just seconds ago, burst out laughing.
Every head turned toward him.
Under the weight of so many stares, Arthur gave an awkward shrug.
"Sorry. Couldn't help it!"
"PUHAHAHAHA!!!"
"I couldn't either, HAHAHA!!!"
"Are you serious right now, HAHA?!!"
"I can't—I can't, stop laughing, can we deal with the struggling guy first?!!"
Amid the howling laughter, Cyborg roared in protest. His arms were being wrenched apart—Steppenwolf was about to tear them clean off!
Still giggling, Diana passed the Lasso to Arthur.
"You hold him. I'll finish him off."
"OK!"
Arthur took the Lasso without thinking.
The instant his fingers closed around it, he was locked in a desperate tug-of-war with the thrashing Steppenwolf. And his mouth—freed from all filter—kept running.
"I—URGH—this guy is stupid strong!
I just—what I'm trying to say is, I genuinely, actually wanted to laugh.
The way he whips out his gadgets is so damn annoying, you know what I mean?!
So HAHAHAHAHAHA—hic—oh GOD, he's so strong, I can barely hold on!!!
And you—you flat-chested woman with the nice body, you did that ON PURPOSE, you played me!!!
This Lasso absolutely makes me say what I actually think, AHHHH!!!
I genuinely, truly wanted to laugh at Bruce, HAHAHAHAHA!!!"
With every word, Bruce's expression darkened another shade.
He fixed Arthur with a withering stare, then glanced up at Diana, who had leaped into the air, sword raised.
Diana had been laughing a second ago. But the instant one particular sentence left Arthur's mouth—
—
She landed, sheathed her sword, and patted Cyborg lightly on the shoulder.
"Don't you think you should let go now?"
"...Huh?!!"
Cyborg blinked, completely thrown.
But one look at Diana's thoroughly unamused expression, and he nodded vigorously.
"You're absolutely right!"
He released his grip and rocketed skyward. Diana planted a kick squarely in Steppenwolf's chest, launching him—and Arthur, still clinging to the Lasso—into the distance.
Freed from the sword and Cyborg's lock, Steppenwolf tore through the Lasso's binding in an instant.
He stomped Arthur into the earth, wrenched the trident free, and pinned the Atlantean to the ground with it.
Then Steppenwolf threw back his head and roared.
"HEISENBERG! DARKSEID IS WATCHING YOU! YOU WILL KNEEL BEFORE HIM, JUST AS I DO!!!"
The words torn from his throat, Steppenwolf turned and ran. Even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance of escape, he would swallow every shred of pride and claw for it.
He had to complete Darkseid's command. He had to end his exile from Apokolips. After witnessing the power of Kryptonians and Earthlings alike, he no longer dreamed of victory or glory.
He just wanted to go home.
Seeing Steppenwolf flee, Fiona tensed to give chase—but Heisenberg's hand settled lightly on her shoulder.
He looked at her and smiled.
"My child, let me show you what Kryptonian combat power truly looks like. What you've seen so far is still a frog at the bottom of a well."
Then he turned to Clark and gave a small nod.
"Bring that Apokoliptian vanguard back. Make it clean. Let our people see what we're truly capable of."
"Of course!!!"
Clark's answer rang like a war drum. He turned his gaze on Fiona—deep, burning, electric—and smiled.
/-\
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